As scientists all around the world look for alternatives to oil for fuel,
several options have materialized. Electricity has a significant amount of
support behind it, but for many drivers an electric vehicle isn't a real option
due to the extremely limited range current battery technology can provide.

One of the few fuel alternatives not based on oil that is currently in use
in relatively large quantities is ethanol. Many of the fueling stations around
the U.S. now have stickers on pumps that say the gasoline is mixed with 10%
ethanol. Large portions of General Motor's vehicles are already capable of
running on 85% ethanol.

The problem with the mass production of ethanol is that the crops most
suited to making ethanol -- corn, potatoes, and sugar cane -- are also food
crops that are needed to feed people in many developing parts of the world.
Another problem is that production costs for ethanol using these food crops vary
with the price of the food crops. Another fear is that in areas where the
amount of land for growing food crops is limited, the amount of crops grown
that need to go to human consumption could be greatly reduced leading to
increased food shortages around the world.

According to UGA, its process uses a fast, mild, and acid-free pretreatment
process to increase the amount of simple sugars released by inexpensive biomass
by a factor of ten. UGA also says that corn stover or bagasse -- the waste
material left behind after corn and sugar cane harvests -- can be used to
produce ethanol with its process.

Professor of microbiology and chair of UGA's Bioenergy Task Force, Joy
Peterson said in a statement, "Producing ethanol from renewable biomass
sources such as grasses is desirable because they are potentially available in
large quantities. Optimizing the breakdown of the plant fibers is critical to
production of liquid transportation fuel via fermentation.”

The researchers say that the same plant materials used to produce ethanol in
its process can be used to produce ethanol with other processes commonly used
today. However, the process typically needed to convert the fibrous stalks,
leaves, and blades of plant wastes into simple sugars requires soaking under
high pressure and high temperatures. The process produces hazardous solutions
and byproducts that must be removed and disposed of safely.

The UGA researchers say that their process is environmentally friendly and
removes the harsh pre-treatment chemicals and the need to dispose of the harsh
chemicals and side products produced using traditional methods.

Gennaro Gama, UGARF technology manager in charge of licensing the UGA
technology said, "By allowing for the use of myriad raw materials, this
technology allows more options for ethanol facilities trying to meet nearby
demand by using locally available, inexpensive starting materials. This would greatly
reduce the costs and carbon footprint associated with the delivery of raw
materials to fermentation facilities and the subsequent delivery of ethanol to
points of sale. Local production of ethanol may also protect specific areas
against speculative fluctuations in fuel prices."

Gama added, "It’s easy to imagine that this easy-to-use, inexpensive
technology could be used by local governments, alone or in partnership with
entrepreneurs, to meet local demand for ethanol, possibly using yard waste as a
substrate."

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If you make ethanol then you convert the sugars into alcohol and the rest is viable feed (high protein food is the waste product).If you make bio-diesel the you convert oil/fat into soap and bio-fuel leaving behind the other edible components (corn meal you extracted corn oil from, for instance).

Convert grass to fuel.... can the waste material be used for food (even animal food). Is it really better to have farmers convert to the new money crop...grass..instead of growing corn that, even if it is used to make fuel also has food as a byproduct?

I think the waste materials are mostly used for animal feed, but still, I have to admit that I've really enjoyed that beef/chicken/pork prices seem to have stayed stable even as gas/electricity/shirts/...everything else has gone up in price

Not sure where you live, but chicken here is as high as $5/lb. Beef runs from $3-$4/lb for ground up to $15/lb for decent ribeyes. I don't buy filets any more; they go for over $20/lb. These prices are up sharply from a couple years ago.

Don't doubt his observations. I share them. You my friend, must live a fair distance from where cows and chickens are produced/processed. You have the privilege of paying higher food prices from the higher transportation costs. Enjoy the city. :)

I seriously doubt /farmers/ will switch to growing grass and weeds. You don't need farmers to grow them, and actual food crops will always be more valuable. Grass comes in plentiful supply, unlike corn.

We grow grass all over the US.. down our highways, on our golf courses, FL and CA are covered.. In NJ there are field set aside stated, "saved from development.. Imagine the lawn care industry feeding our ethanol plants. Farm it??? I have a lawn, that gets cut once a week, makes 2 loads of clippings that get throw in a much pile. If my town alone contributed their clippings (50000+ homes) that is 100000 loads of clips a week, or a bouts.

" I have a lawn, that gets cut once a week, makes 2 loads of clippings that get throw in a much pile. If my town alone contributed their clippings (50000+ homes) that is 100000 loads of clips a week, or a bouts. "

But on such small scales I doubt you would produce enough ethanol to even offset the fuel for the mowing, much less the transport costs. Only large scale areas could be cost effective (where they fertilize the fields and apply lime..allow the grass to grow to over head height before cutting and bailing for easy transport...aka, done by a farmer and sent to a nearby chemist instead of being fed to cattle directly). Few people will let their lawns grow tall enough for it to be remotely useful as a fuel source (ok, I do, but most people like to be able to see over the lawn).

It doesn't take much gas to mow an acre of lawn. I mean that would be the smart thing to do, simply ask citizens and poeple that when they bag their grass clippings living it on the side of the road and a truck willc ome by to pick it up. To which it is then processed and made into ethanoal.

When you remove the clippings from your lawn, you remove a good source of nutrients for your lawn, then you need to add fertilizer back to the lawn. For now, folks should leave the clippings on their lawn and then they won't need to fertilize as much.

We need to get away from the idea of a perfect lawn. Leave clippings or fertilize more and what happens? You have to mow more, using more gas, higher consumption of lawn grooming mechanical products, more air and sound pollution especially considering all those 2 stroke blowers, wead-eaters, edgers, etc. People could just use manual tools instead of gas powered ones, but "could" and "do" aren't the same.

"But on such small scales I doubt you would produce enough ethanol to even offset the fuel for the mowing, much less the transport costs."

But, you see, I already mow my lawn. I already put it in the yard debris container that is taken away by the garbage man. I suppose it goes to the dump? I'm not sure. Regardless, I think what he is saying is that all this "WASTE" becomes a potential fuel source.

Now, if this takes off, I might not have to pay the disposal company for my yard debris pick up any longer. Perhaps the profit margin on what was once considered waste, will be great enough that the disposal company will consider picking my debris up free of charge, perhaps driving trucks running on 100% ethanol.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. This is all speculation based on an industry in it's infancy and working within an economic climate I can't predict.